The Off Broadway Alliance will hold the next event in its Seminars series focused on the “Off Broadway Producing Experience” on Saturday, September 21st, 2019. Click here to purchase your tickets.
The seminar, titled “I Wish to Go to the Festival” will feature top theatre professionals discussing all aspects of producing theatre in a festival environment, and how to get the most advantage from the experience. The panelists are Tony Award-winning producer Ken Davenport (Once on this Island, Rave Theatre Festival), producer and general manager Sharon Fallon (Indecent), Producing Artistic Director of NYMF West Hyler (Paramour, Georama), and writer/director Rebecca Aparicio (Pedro Pan, Gloria: A Life). Producer Robert Driemeyer (La Cage aux Folles, Tennessee Williams’ The Two-Character Play) will moderate.
I Wish to Go to the Festival will be held on the 3rd floor of The Theater Center (210 West 50th Street). Check-in will begin 10:30am for networking and complimentary coffee and bagels. The panel discussion will take place from 11am to 12:30pm with additional time allotted afterward for conversation with fellow attendees.
Admission for the seminar is $5 (to offset the costs of presenting the seminar), and pre-registration is a must. Attendees are encouraged to pre-submit questions for the panelists when they submit their reservations. Questions will be asked live at the seminar. For tickets, please visit iwishtogotothefestival.eventbrite.com.
About The Panelists:
KEN DAVENPORT – is a Tony Award-winning Broadway producer and a true entrepreneur. He is honored to be the first Broadway producer on Inc. 5000’s list of fastest-growing companies in America. Ken’s productions have been produced internationally in over 25 countries around the world. In addition to his own work, Ken is the Executive Producer of North America for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group. Outside of theatre, he has produced an award-winning documentary, was featured on a national commercial for Apple’s iPhone, has authored multiple books, and created Broadway’s only board game, “Be a Broadway Star.” His blog, TheProducersPerspective.com, has been featured in Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, and more, and he’s written articles for Forbes, Mashable, and many others. Ken’s unique production and marketing style has garnered him international attention, including a front-page article in the New York Times and features on multiple media outlets – his favorite, a mention in Jay Leno’s monologue on “The Tonight Show.”
SHARON FALLON – is an independent Theatre Producer, Executive Producer and General Manager. In 2012, she created her consulting practice, Practical Producing, which specializes in bridging the gap between art and business for early career and emerging producers. She has general managed a number of festival shows at NYMF, FringeNYC and United Solo. Past NYMF: Buried and Flying Lessons (2019), Between the Sea and Sky (2018), Errol and Fidel (2017) and MotherFreakingHood! (2017). Broadway Productions: Indecent, Beautiful the Carole King Musical, Matilda, Lysistrata Jones. Ms. Fallon is a member of the Broadway League and NAMT. She is currently developing a number of new projects that some that she found at festivals.
WEST HYLER – currently serves as the Producing Artistic Director of the New York Musical Festival, having previously won the 2017 New York Musical Festival award for Outstanding Direction for Georama (which he co-wrote with Matt Schatz and Jack Herrick). He was the Scene Director and Story Writer for Cirque Du Soleil Paramour, Cirque’s first Broadway Musical. His other directing work includes Shrek (Bulgarian National Opera), Avenue Q (State Puppet Theater of Bulgaria), Djembe! (Apollo theater, Chicago), Big Apple Circus (Lincoln Center), Panda! (Palazzo Theater, Las Vegas), Mortality Play, Wingman, Kid who would be Pope (Ars Nova), H2O (59E59), Getting My Act Together, Game of Love (York Theater Company), Tempest, Love’s Labours Lost, Merry Wives of Windsor (Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival), Georama, The Disappearing Man (St Louis Rep), No Way to Treat a Lady (The Colony Theater, Los Angeles), amongst others. He was Drama League Fellow as well as a Drama League Resident Artist and holds an MFA from UCSD.
REBECCA APARICIO – is a director-writer-performer of new work. As a director, she’s developed work with Classical Theatre of Harlem, Ars Nova, Musical Theatre Factory, The Tank, HERE Arts, FringeNYC, Downtown Urban Arts Festival, Parsnip Ship Podcast, among others. As an associate/assistant director she’s worked off-Broadway and regionally, including the upcoming: Gloria: A Life (dir. Diane Paulus/A.R.T. and dir. Emily Mann/McCarter Theatre) and Evita (dir. Sammi Cannold, NY City Center Gala). As a writer, her award-winning musical Pedro Pan has been developed by New York Musical Festival (5 Awards of Excellence 2018, Developmental Reading Award 2017), Musical Theatre Factory, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, FringeNYC, and was originally commissioned by the TRUF Theatre. Her writing has also been developed/performed by Prospect Theatre, Joe’s Pub, Barn Arts Collective, and The Dirty Blondes. She is a two-time SDCF Observership Award recipient, Resident Director at The Flea, member of MTC’s Directing Fellowship Program, member Latinx Theatre Commons Steering Committee, member Nasty Women Unite Fest, and founding member of Magic Forest Theatre, dedicated to creating new musicals for young audiences. www.RebeccaAparicio.com
ROBERT DRIEMEYER (Moderator) – Robert’s Broadway credits include the Tony Award-winning revival of La Cage aux Folles starring Kelsey Grammar and Douglas Hodge and Elling starring Brendan Fraser and Denis O’Hare. Off Broadway he produced Tennessee Williams’ The Two-Character Play starring Amanda Plummer and Brad Dourif, and Party Face starring Hayley Mills and directed by Amanda Bearse. Other Off Broadway credits include Shear Madness and Forbidden Broadway. He produced David Parr’s critically acclaimed Slap&Tickle directed by David Parr in Provincetown, MA, and the Actors Fund benefit Dear George: Letters to the President, which was simultaneously presented in 40 theatre across the country leading up to the 2004 presidential election. He and producing partner Morgan Sills formed Driemeyer-Sills Productions which focuses on new works, classic revivals, and offers consulting and executive producing services, dsproducers.com.